who's wedding cake serving chart do you use? - Page 4

Haha Debi... I know exactly what you mean! I have only had one bride freeze hers and eat it a year later, and what she told me was actually quite a compliment... she said, "It really wasn't bad... it was just a bit more dry, like you would get at any other bakery." After a year of freezer burn, my cake still tastes as good as most places fresh stuff! Awesome!

I was just kind of reading through what you all have written about the serving sizes and I just wanted to post this link that I have found from Country Kitchen Sweet Art, Inc. This serving chart is in between Earlene's and Wilton's. I hope maybe this may help you guys out some what.
www.countrykitchensa.com/wedding/cakechart.aspx

The goal is to get them to purchase a cake that serves more, right? I kinda like the idea of keeping it simple, but 10 or 15 doesnt hurt you because you sell your cake as part of a package.

Actually, no, my goal is not to get them to buy more. There are too many wedding vendors out there trying to get them to overspend and I don't want to be one of them.

I actually spend quite a bit of time to determine their true expected headcount and figuring out how to reduce their costs and show them how NOT to overspend. A difference of just 25 people can save them over $600 with me on their cake and catering. The general Rule of Thumb I use is my 60% Rule .... total invite list x 60% will be the actual show-rate, with a couple of exceptions ..... the biggest one is if the bride and/or groom is active military, there will be a higher show rate.

It's a win/win for both of us though. When brides are shown how to spend their money wisely, they find they can afford that little extra. When I show them how they an save four or five hundred dollars here and there, they come to the realization that they can splurge on the chocolate fountain or something that they didn't think they could afford.

When they walk away from me with more food/cake than they expected and still have money left in their pocket, then that's when I consider myself successful. (The real reward is they tell everyone how great I am because I not only didn't try to take advantage of them, but I actually saved them money! )

(Besides, I'm basically a lazy person! If they don't really need food for 200, please don't make me do the work for 200, when only 150 will really be there! )

I use the Wilton Party serving size chart. I figure it's in between Earlene's and Wilton's wedding serving size. I do include the top tier in my price but I also inlcude a fresh 1 year anniversary cake. I tell the bride to keep the top tier for after the wedding (does the bride ever really get to have a peice of cake other than the one the bride and groom share?) so that she and the groom can enjoy their cake at their leisure knowing that they'll have a fresh 1 year anniversary cake. When I quote her a price I quote the price based on the entire cake and then I let her know how many "guest" servings there are.
Jacqui

This fresh anniversary idea is sounding better and better to me.....not only for the fresh taste aspect but a great marketing tool that keeps my name in their head for at least a year. I'm basically throwing it in for free so what difference does it make if I throw it in now or a year from now on their anniversary?

We re-do our pricing and packages every Sept ..... I think I'm filing this idea away for future reference!

I did an average between Wilton's and Earlene's charts and use that when I figure servings for a wedding cake. If I'm giving serving figures for any other cake, I usually use Earlene's. I was wondering if anyone has ever ordered the "complete" chart from Earlene that she charges something like $10 for? I wanted to know if it was worth getting or if the info on the website is enough.

When it comes to the top tier for wedding cakes, most of my brides say that they will save it. I charge a flat rate for that tier so that I still make money for my work, but they aren't paying per serving for it.

wthaygs, you are my hero, thanks

I haven't done but a few wedding cakes, but I always ask if the cake is the only food or will there be a buffet ect. I find that with a buffet, there isn't a need for a huge piece of cake and the Wilton chart works fine. If the cake is the only food, I would go with Earlenes.

No problem Janette, I just know that this site has been so helpful to me and I hope that if I can help I will.

May be a dumb question, and maybe I just missed something but the chart from Country Kitchen doesn't state the size of their servings. I love one chart with pan size, servings, batter needed, icing, temp and time though. But what size are they working with??

I still, for the life of me, cannot figure out how anyone can get 16 servings out of a 6" cake!?!??! I've never been able to get anywhere near that amount.....can someone please explain??

I also do the fresh layer. I leave it up to the bride and groom to decide if they want a fresh layer or if they want to freeze the top layer. No difference in price. Where I am at, I don't think any baker does NOT offer the fresh layer. It's very common around here.

As far as the serving prices, I always went with the Wilton chart. I assumed that most caterers were trained using the Wilton charts. Maybe Indydebi could talk more on that part of the business. There is a local baker here who claims to get 16 servings out of 6" cake. And close to 50 -60 servings out of a 6" and 8" tier. I have no idea where that comes from. That cake would be so small on my plate, I don't know that I'd even know there was cake!

I use Wilton's chart. 1" x 2" x 4" is the industry standard and that is what size the caterers are going to cut so that is what I use to estimate their servings per cake. It's the least confusing. If I estimate for larger servings and the caterer cuts standard servings there will be a ton of cake left over and the customer will be mad that I talked them into buying too much - they won't understand that it was free. They will see that they should have bought a smaller cake which would have cost less. Which is true - can't argue with that.

And as a business person I was paid less for this cake (because I estimated less servings) which cost me more (because it was larger) plus the customer got annoyed with me for selling them too much. I lose 3 times.

1x2x4 is actually a good size piece. For my tastings I offer 1x1x2 and most people think that is a big piece - the wedding cake slice is 4 times that size.

On your free servings topic - How do you all give a free top tier when different sizes are used? I use a 5" or 6" round top tier or a 4" or 6" square. So it's not really fair to give one person 8 free servings and another person 18 free servings when their total servings is similar. How do you work that? I was thinking of just giving everyone 10 servings free (over 125 servings or so).